The crew of an AC-130J on June 22 received Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals for protecting helicopters evacuating wounded American and Afghan forces during a September 2019 fight in Afghanistan. The Ghostrider, callsign Shadow 71, provided about two hours of constant close air support ...
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan continues on pace, and though Taliban violence has increased—with the group taking more districts from the Kabul-based government—there are no plans to slow the drawdown yet. U.S. Central Command said June 22 that more than 50 percent of the withdrawal ...
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on June 10 would not say whether the U.S. military will still conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan to defend population centers after the retrograde completes this summer, but the Pentagon is pursuing ways to base surveillance and strike aircraft closer ...
The number of troops deployed to Afghanistan could increase in the coming months to enable the full withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces, a DOD spokesman said, and it is too early to tell what the remaining contractor presence will be to continue support for ...
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will begin on May 1 and finish before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, to allow the American military time to focus more on global terror and increasing threats from China, President Joe Biden said. During a March 14 address formally ...
U.S. forces will leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11—the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Biden administration officials said. President Joe Biden is expected to formally announce the plan on April 14. The new deadline is not "conditions based," ...
The Taliban targeted Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, with rockets on April 7, and though no casualties were reported, the Pentagon said the attack is a threat to fragile peace discussions in the country. Preliminary reports showed the rockets landed outside the perimeter of the airfield, with ...
President Joe Biden on March 25 reiterated that it will be difficult for U.S. forces to leave Afghanistan by the May 1 deadline, but said American troops will come home soon. “It’s hard to meet the May 1st withdrawal deadline,” Biden said during his first ...
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III visited Afghanistan on March 21 to meet with Afghan leaders and urge further reduction in violence, as NATO foreign ministers prepare to meet this week to discuss the future of the mission. “It’s obvious that the level of violence ...
President Joe Biden cautioned it will be “tough” to the meet the May 1 deadline to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan, telling ABC News he's “in the process of making that decision now.” Under the deal with the Taliban, announced in February 2020, the U.S. ...
The rate of Taliban violence continues to rise despite the now one-year-old peace deal aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, and the Afghan military still struggles with maintaining its equipment and readiness, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. SIGAR on March ...
NATO will increase its presence in Iraq following the U.S. drawdown in the country, but its future force size in Afghanistan is still up in the air as violence remains high. The alliance's presence in Iraq will grow from 500 to about 4,000, not including ...